Dabo Swinney and the Tigers are kicking off their 2024 season with a high-stakes game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Starting the season as underdogs, Clemson thrives in this position, often delivering standout performances. This matchup offers a prime opportunity for the Tigers to make a significant statement and regain momentum. Securing a victory against Georgia would be a monumental start, setting a thrilling course for the season that would undoubtedly excite their fans.
Recently, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy named this matchup the No. 1 non-conference game of 2024 on his Always College Football show.
I think Georgia-Clemson is a battle between two teams that will find themselves very much in the playoff conversation at the end of the season,” he said. “Georgia, because I think they’re a shoo-in, and Clemson, because even if they don’t win the ACC – which I think they have a real chance of being able to do – even if they don’t win the ACC, as far as an at-large is concerned, because of this game against Georgia, I think they’re going to have a really good argument that can be made on their behalf.
One of the more interesting things about this discussion is McElroy’s feelings about the Tigers heading into the season. He isn’t as low on Clemson as many you’ll see and believes his game will be closer than people realize.
So, I look at Clemson, and people have kind of knocked Clemson, saying they’re not what they used to be. I’m going to push back on that just a little bit,” McElroy said. “Now, I’ve had my own hesitations with Clemson in the past. I have, and partly because I think when you have young players in some cases playing against veterans, because Dabo Swinney has not chosen to utilize the portal as much as some of the teams he’s facing off against, they’re oftentimes operating at a disadvantage. Well, last year they were young, and they really finished strong. They finished really, really strong down the stretch.
And if you look at some of their personnel, some of the guys that made the biggest impact for them last year, they were true feshmen, most of which were on the defensive side of the football. And I look at their run game and how their run game seemed to improve as the season went along, as they leaned a little bit more heavily on Phil Mafah. The big question is whether or not Cade Klubnik can elevate his play to a point which he can be one of the more dangerous players in the sport, because that has not happened just yet. It’s been really, really inconsistent. Maybe this is the year that the light goes on. It happened for Bo Nix. Remember, Bo Nix, when he was at Auburn, kind of underwhelming. And when he got to Oregon, he was a different guy. Guess who’s skill set is a lot like Bo Nix’s? Cade Klubnik. So, maybe this is the year for him.
Clemson should compete in this game, whether people want to believe it or not.